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Inheriting from Japan While Living Abroad: The Three Deadlines

Masaki Yamaguchi (山口征樹), Attorney at Law (Bengoshi), Fukui Bar Association
Yamaguchi Law Office, Tsuruga, Fukui, Japan

1. Property in Japan: the inheritance is handled in Japan

This page is for the following situation: a family member who lived in Japan has passed away, leaving property in Japan such as land or a house, bank deposits, or shares and other securities, and you are an heir who lives outside Japan. It applies whether you hold Japanese nationality or another nationality.

In this situation, the inheritance is handled in Japan:

• Japanese courts. Where the deceased had his or her domicile in Japan at the time of death, the Japanese family court can deal with inheritance matters such as renunciation (Domestic Relations Case Procedure Act, Article 3-11(1)). What matters is where the deceased lived, not where you live or where the death occurred.
• Japanese law. Inheritance is governed by the national law of the deceased (Act on General Rules for Application of Laws, Article 36). If the deceased was a Japanese national, Japanese law decides who the heirs are, what share each receives, and how an inheritance is accepted or renounced. Your own nationality or country of residence does not change this.
• Japanese institutions. Real estate is registered at the Japanese Legal Affairs Bureau, and banks and securities companies in Japan follow their own procedures to release deposits and transfer securities. They usually ask for Japanese documents, such as family register certificates and an agreement among the heirs on how the estate is divided.

Other cases. If the deceased was not a Japanese national, the law of his or her home country may apply, although that country's rules may refer the matter back to Japanese law (Article 41). If the deceased lived outside Japan, the Japanese family court generally cannot accept a renunciation. These cases need individual advice, so please contact us early.

The deadlines. Japanese inheritance procedures run on fixed time limits, and several of them start running from the time you learn of the death, not from the time you are ready to deal with it. Living abroad does not stop the clock. Gathering Japanese documents from overseas also takes longer than most people expect. The sections below set out the three deadlines most heirs abroad need to know, in order from the shortest. Separate articles will cover some of these steps in more detail.

2. Renouncing the inheritance: 3 months

The rule. An heir must decide whether to accept or renounce the inheritance within three months from the time the heir learned that the inheritance had started for him or her (Civil Code, Article 915(1)). In most cases this means three months from the time you learned of the death and that you are an heir.

Why it matters. Renunciation means giving up the inheritance as a whole. A person who renounces is treated as never having been an heir (Article 939). This is the main way to avoid inheriting the deceased's debts. If you do nothing within the three months, you are deemed to have accepted the inheritance outright, debts included (Article 921, item 2). You are also deemed to have accepted if you dispose of estate property, for example by selling or spending it, apart from acts that only preserve it (Article 921, item 1).

What to do. Renunciation is made by filing a written statement with the Japanese family court. The competent court is the one for the place where the inheritance commenced, which is the deceased's last domicile (Domestic Relations Case Procedure Act, Article 201; Civil Code, Article 883). A simple notice to other relatives, or a statement made before a notary in your country, is not the same as a filing with the Japanese family court.

If you need more time to look into the deceased's assets and debts, the family court can extend the three-month period on request (Civil Code, Article 915(1), proviso). An heir may investigate the estate before deciding (Article 915(2)). In practice, the request for an extension is filed before the three months run out, so if you are unsure, it is better to ask early.

3. Japanese inheritance tax return: 10 months

The rule. Where a Japanese inheritance tax return is required, it must be filed within ten months from the day after the day the heir learned that the inheritance had started (Inheritance Tax Act, Article 27(1)). Whether a return is required at all depends on the size of the estate and other factors set out in the tax law.

Living outside Japan. An individual taxpayer who has no address or residence in Japan and needs to file a tax return must appoint a tax agent (nozei kanrinin), a person with an address or residence in Japan, and notify the tax office (Act on General Rules for National Taxes, Article 117(1) and (2)). If an heir who lives in Japan moves abroad within the ten months without notifying the tax office of a tax agent, the deadline becomes the day he or she ceases to have an address or residence in Japan (Inheritance Tax Act, Article 27(1)).

What to do. This page does not explain how Japanese inheritance tax is calculated. Please consult a Japanese tax accountant (zeirishi) early, because the questions of whether a return is needed and who will act as your tax agent take time to settle from abroad. Tax rules in your country of residence, including any tax on the same inheritance there, are outside the scope of this page; please consult a tax professional where you live.

4. Registering inherited real estate: 3 years

The rule. Since 1 April 2024, a person who acquires ownership of Japanese real estate by inheritance must apply for registration of the transfer within three years from the day he or she learned both that the inheritance had started and that he or she had acquired the ownership (Real Property Registration Act, Article 76-2(1)). The law contains no exception for heirs who live abroad.

Deaths before 1 April 2024. The duty also applies where the registered owner died before 1 April 2024. In that case, the three years run from the day you learned the above facts or from 1 April 2024, whichever is later (Supplementary Provisions of Act No. 24 of 2021, Article 5(6)). For an heir who already knew of the inheritance before that date, the deadline is therefore 31 March 2027.

The penalty. A person who fails to apply without a justifiable reason is subject to a non-criminal fine (karyo) of up to 100,000 yen (Real Property Registration Act, Article 164(1)).

What to do. The application is made to the Legal Affairs Bureau that has jurisdiction over the location of the property (Article 6(1)). If the heirs have not yet agreed how to divide the estate, the deadline can still be running, so it is worth checking the dates for each property early. Heirs abroad usually cannot obtain a Japanese seal registration certificate, and the substitute documents issued by Japanese embassies or consulates, or by authorities in your country, take time to prepare. A separate article on these documents is in preparation.

How to contact us

We accept enquiries by email only: inheritance@en.yama-lawoffice.jp

In your first email, please tell us:

1. Your full name (as in your passport), and your name in Japanese if you have one
2. Your country of residence and your nationality
3. The deceased's name and nationality, and the city in Japan where he or she lived
4. The date of death, and the date you learned of it
5. Your relationship to the deceased, and the names of the other heirs (we need these to check for conflicts of interest before we can advise you)
6. The property in Japan (for example, a house or land and its city, banks, securities companies) and any known debts
7. What you would like help with

Please do not attach documents such as your passport or family register to your first email; we will ask for them if needed. You may write in English or Japanese.

We will reply to explain whether and how we can help and what the fees would be. An attorney-client relationship begins only after we have both signed an engagement agreement. Our fees and terms are here: Legal Fees

Important notice

This page provides general information about Japanese law as of the date below. It is not legal advice on any individual matter. The outcome and the time required in any case depend on its particular facts. Laws in your country of residence are not covered.

Last updated: 1 November 2026